Thursday, November 1, 2018

Do Your Candidates Know About 10 Cents a Meal?

Greetings all,

I have written a piece, modified from one that appeared recently in the Traverse City Record-Eagle, about the opportunity to help educate candidates seeking office in the Michigan House and Senate about the state's 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms program. A majority of the seats in the Michigan legislature are likely to be filled by first-time representatives and senators, who may not know about 10 Cents, which provides matching grants for schools to purchase Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and legumes. This opinion piece links to a hand-out of the 10 Cents legislative report that you can use to educate your own candidates and to a student video interview with Sen. Goeff Hansen. Sen. Hansen is the outgoing chair of the key education budget committee that moved funding of 10 Cents a Meal forward. Read my entire piece here. We've also created a one-pager with higher level talking points for policymakers.

It's a busy time for candidates. This is not a big ask for their support, but an ask about their knowledge of the program, an offer of educational information, and an offer to connect again after the election with any additional information they might want. I'd love to hear about any of your outreach efforts regarding 10 Cents a Meal. You can reach me at diane@groundworkcenter.org.

MSU is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, age, height, weight, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, family status or veteran status.